If They Only Knew
by joywriter1980
Summary: Kathryn and Chakotay have a fight and take a turbolift ride


Just a shortie that suddenly popped up in my head. Thanks to Cori for the beta. I changed a little bit here and there after her read – through, so any remaining mistakes are purely mine.

**If they only knew**

Tom Paris cringed as he heard the voices in the Ready Room rise again. The argument had been already going on for over fifteen minutes and there was no end in sight. He hated it when his commanding officers behaved like this. It was childish and it felt as if his own parents were having a fight. He respected them both, but in a fight, one of them had to be wrong.

Shaking his head slightly, he cast a glance over is shoulder at Harry Kim. Making eye contact with his friend, he gave slight nod, turned towards his console again and started to enter something into the command field before him.

He was so engrossed in his task; that he almost jumped out of his chair, when the doors of the Ready Room suddenly burst open and the raised voice of his Captain could be heard as she left her sanctum.

"Commander, the discussion is over," Janeway almost yelled, and Tom tried to make himself as small as possible in his chair, careful not to be in his captain's line of sight. He heard her move over the command centre, only to come to a halt in front of the turbolift. Right on her heels was her first officer, whose face showed a deep frown, instead of his usual relaxed expression.

"No Captain," he said in a low voice that was just loud enough for Tom to hear. "I have to disagree here; this discussion is far from being over. We have to…," Chakotay's voice faded away as both stepped into the turbolift and the doors closed behind them.

Sighing Tom punched another course correction into the console and leaned back into his chair, totally drained. He was really getting too old for this.

=/\=

Inside the lift, both commanding officers leaned on opposite walls, trying to get as far away from each other as possible in the small space.

Kathryn snapped out her destination and felt the turbolift starting to move. She kept her head down, looking intently at an invisible spot on the floor. She could feel Chakotay staring at her with his dark eyes; she always could when they were in a situation like this.

Taking a deep breath and silently counting to ten, she lifted her head and looked up into her first officer's face. Kathryn opened her mouth to say something, only to be stopped by the sudden halt of the turbolift. Even though it had happened often enough in their journey, the more abrupt than normal halt that signalled power failure was always an uncomfortable, unexpected experience and Kathryn felt her knees buckle. She tried to find a hold at the wall next to her, but her fingers slipped over the smooth surface and then she fell forward, the ground rushing towards her.

Suddenly, strong arms were holding her up, enveloping her securely around her waist. Lifting her head, she gazed into the warm, brown eyes of her first officer. They stared at each other for several seconds, lost in each others eyes and thoughts, until Kathryn lowered her gaze again and slowly disengaged herself from Chakotay's arms.

She took a step back in order to put some much needed space between them once more, then turned and leaned herself on one arm against the turbolift walls, her back to Chakotay. Neither had said a word since they'd entered the lift, and Kathryn had to clear her throat as she lifted her hand to press the communicator that was attached to her uniform jacket.

"Janeway to Torres," her voice cut through the air. "The Commander and I are stuck in Turbolift One. What happened?"

"I'm sorry, Captain," her half – klingon chief engineer sounded rushed. "Seven tried to improve the working capacity of the bioneural gel-packs _again_," B'Elanna stressed the last word, "and some relays blew. We're already working on it, but it will be at least an hour until we can get you out of there. The transporters are down, too. I'm sorry for the inconvience."

"I see," Kathryn said in a tight voice. "Please make sure that this won't happen again in the future. We can't afford something like this occurring during an emergency," she added and closed the comm. link again, before B'Elanna even had a chance to reply.

Kathryn heaved a deep sigh, let her head fall forward and stood still for a moment. After some seconds she felt a presence move up behind her and even though she knew who it was, she tensed momentarily, her primary instincts telling her that danger lay ahead, or better behind her in this case. But soon she relaxed again and a satisfied sigh escaped her lips, as hands sneaked around her waist and pulled her close to the male body that was now pressed against her. She titled her head back and a soft moan escaped her, as his lips found that sensitive spot behind her ear.

"You know," Chakotay whispered. "It would be a lot easier and less stressful for all of us if we'd just sneak into the turbolift to make out, like every other couple on Voyager. We don't actually have to pretend having a fight, so that the crew believes they have to trap in here to 'do some talking'."

With a low chuckle, she turned into his arms and leaned back against the wall, pulling him with her.

"Oh, but it's is so much more fun this way," she purred. With a twinkle in her eyes, she pulled the zipper of his uniform jacket down and helped him shrug the offending garment off. "I like to keep them alert and on their toes. At least this way, we can be sure we won't be disturbed in any way for the next hour," she arched one elegant eyebrow and pulled him close for a another deep kiss while his hands found their way under the layers of her uniform to gently caress her naked skin.

=/\=

A few moments after the doors had closed behind the command team's backs a small blinking light on Tom's console indicated, that a new message had arrived. He pressed a button and a note from his beloved wife filled the unit's small view screen

"_Mission accomplished_," he was able to read. "_They have one hour._" With a small, satisfied nod, he typed back, "_Good, thank you hon. You'll get a "Thank you" later. This would be so much easier for us if they just would take a normal "make out" ride in the lift, like everyone else, rather than making us believe that they have a fight. Love you, Tom_.

~~end~~

2009-08-02


End file.
